Category: Prophetic Perspectives

History repeats / rhymes

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by Martin Scott
Posted in Prophetic Perspectives

There are various quotes about history repeating itself. Here are two such quotes:

Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. (George Santayana).
Those that fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it. (Winston Churchill).

And Mark Twain added a nice little nuance:

History does not repeat itself, but it often rhymes.

Not sure where this post will go but here are a few background elements that provoked me to write this morning.

  • I have been agitated over the various ‘again’ messages these past few years. ‘Again’ that looks back is not based in the eschatological vision of the New Testament. ‘I press on’ was one of my readings this very morning. Hence my seeking to understand how to align (chronological) time with heaven’s (‘kairotic’) time.
  • Late 1990s / early 2000s a major emphasis was the rolling up of the Roman way which culminated in Steve Lowton initiating a walk from Whitby (UK, where the Celtic church effectively submitted to the pattern and teaching of Rome in 664 AD/CE) to St Peter’s Square, Rome to bring that focus to a conclusion.
  • The strong belief that the Gospel is not from this world but is for this world. It is not political in the sense of ‘capitalism vs socialism’, or any other such supposed polarities but is deeply and essentially political with the language used being both explicitly and implicitly political.
  • Jesus was offered to become the Caesar of the then Roman world – he was offered the oikoumene, the term that was used of the Imperial territory.
  • Paul’s great desire, and understanding of ‘the gospel to the nations and then the end shall come’ was that of the Gospel from Jerusalem to Spain.
  • And of course my understanding of the book that shapes us is that we do not have within it ‘history written in advance’ (popularised as ‘the bible predicts…’) but as a provocative call to shape the future through our actions, relationships, prayer in the power of the Spirit.

There are other aspects I might wish to add, but the above will give a something of a window into any bias I carry!

I do not find it a great surprise that in our historical setting we have conflict within the Western world currently, as the conflict area is over the ‘offer of the oikoumene‘ – the offer to shape the territory that can express the Roman order with a ‘God-order’. Hence I respect those who are writing about how Judeo-Christian values are what has shaped European / Western culture but the conclusive appeal is normally that we need to revert to Christendom. ‘My kingdom is not of this world….’ The sword does not belong in that kingdom but as Paul points out (with great irony) in Romans 13 to the world of Imperial authority. Today the Italian PM (Giorgia Meloni) heads to Washington to represent the EU… I am not suggesting this is sinister but I do read it as a sign. Will the West be held together as ‘Christianised’ or will there be a division that will allow space for the radical followers of Jesus who are to be like the wind to manifest? (I have said for decades that the strength of Islamic ‘sharia’ law is that of Christendom. The very thing that is thought needs to be brought in place to hold the ground is the very thing that tills the ground for all levels of terrorism.)

At this critical point of history, in the shift from the West to the East, we have much work to do if we are going to find an increase of pace in the right direction. Jesus died in Jerusalem so that the Gospel could go West and bring down the Roman order – surely it is significant that Paul’s Gospel is best outlined in some detail in the letter to the ‘Romans’? – but there is nothing in the NT about the work to the East. Unfinished work.

I am no great student of history but the shift from Republic to Empire in Rome seems to carry a lens through which we can see what is happening currently. Rome was effectively an Empire before it became an Empire, but the shift came in a defined way through Julius Caesar and solidified with Augustus (in power 27BC/BCE – 14AD/CE). Jesus appeared at the ‘fullness of times’ into that era, hence what was happening in the world at that time is highly significant.

Augustus… The early signs in his reign was of the Senate allowing him to bend the rules without pushing back; of he introducing unelected people (including those of his own family) into decision-making roles, and the move was made effective through the support of the ultra-rich of Rome. (A simplified summary but one that can be expanded on should one choose to read a history on Rome.)

Through his actions Rome became what it always was – an empire in disguise. Honour was given to the god of peace (Pax) with the phrase the Pax Romana being held up as something awesome, but visit Rome and you would have seen that the temple to Pax was built on Mars field (Mars the god of war).

History repeats / rhymes.

We are in this critical period. My prayer is ‘Europe do not concede’, or better… come on those of you born from above and act like the wind. No one really knowing where you came from, or where you are going but influencing the future through helping to hold a shape for all kinds of wholesome aspects to come through.

My reading this morning was in Philippians… a city that Rome had named as being Imperial. Those who lived there were to work to make sure that Rome’s values prevailed. Into that Paul wrote that their citizenship was in heaven (nothing to do with going to heaven when we die) and therefore in that context to ‘stand firm’ in a way that was consistent with those who were waiting for a Saviour to come from heaven to earth.

Many aspects are converging. Global crises. History rhymes. Fullness of times. West and East. Christendom or Jesus.

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This time next year

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by Martin Scott
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During Passover for the Jews of the Diaspora there would be a toast ‘next year Jerusalem’. What about us in a year’s time? Tough decisions are made by politicians and from the arm chair they can be easy to critique. My focus (and not necessarily one for everyone) is of a new Europe that might point a way toward the future. We await a Saviour from heaven (not we wait to go to heaven!) and not till then will there be the end of death, destruction, sin etc; not till then will the powers (sin, death and mammon?) be finally defeated but as we align ourselves with that eschaton we pray, work and hope (give an answer for the hope that is in you) for manifestations in the here and now of what will take place universally then. I don’t think I am being melodramatic to suggest that we are seeing an increase in pace of a new global matrix.

Around 2 years ago I was praying, looking at a map of the world and suddenly the American southern hemisphere (what we term ‘Latin America’) moved eastward and was located under Europe replacing where Africa is currently, and at the same time the African continent moved east and relocated under China. India did not move. All three aspects struck me and I suspect that in some way we are about to see re-alignments play out over the next – who knows – 2-3 years.

There is a move to the East with some kind of new world order coming into play. All the attempts to ‘go back’ or to redefine our futures simply along the ‘Christianity got us here’ so we must resist all change does not carry the weight to bring in a good future… reason being is it is more dependent on Christianity than on Christ.

Understanding ‘trade wars’ is beyond me, but for sure trade is no small theme in Scripture so I am not surprised that for now conflict over trade is central.

So what are you looking for? We have got to see way beyond ‘my investments are decreasing’. Please!!! John said he ‘saw a new heaven and a new earth’; Martin Luther King said ‘I have a dream’. Both spoke into situations that were not looking too promising. One locked up on the Island of Patmos; the other soon to be assassinated. But eyes that saw. The powers were not in agreement with them – how things were was going to be what was maintained… but those two saw.

As those Jews outside the land raised their glass at Passover with ‘Next year Jerusalem’ we are about to come to our ‘Passover’ where we focus on proclaiming his death (victory over all powers that resist the future) until he comes.

The hope that is within me is so key. Not a hope that is outside but within, that cannot be squashed.

This is why I am focusing on ‘reconciliation’ in every aspect of life. And if we focus on life for sure Jesus will be present at some level. His death is probably better understood from the ‘other side’ – it is a presentation of a perfect human life to heaven… representative life, for me, for you, for the world.

In this time of global flux and resultant change we learn not to simply hold on to what has brought us thus far (and probably served us well) but to embrace uncertainty of what we hold / held firm to (what not who). I know since the beginning of this year Gayle and I have been raising many issues as we know transition is here. ‘Next year…’ might be a change of location, maybe not, but each year we proclaim ‘next year more of the kingdom of heaven’ not a greater meeting but greater shalom in our streets.

Seek the shalom of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its shalom you will find your shalom.

Next year then is not ‘next year Jerusalem’ but ‘next year here’.

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Saviours – do we recognise one

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by Martin Scott
Posted in Prophetic Perspectives

He who saves his country does not violate any law.

So wrote on social media one world leader who had 80% of the vote from the evangelical population. Yes it is obvious who I am writing about but my concern is not primarily for that geography but closer to home, as there is a mirror for here.

The clear danger signs are there in the post: ‘saves’, and the inference ‘above the law’. However quite some god-like qualities – or NOT! God saves and in the eyes of many is above any law, hence genocide, a commitment to back up violence to ensure that the land is ‘forever’ in the hands of those who are Jews. I wrote yesterday about the Canaanite woman and her child and Matthew’s deliberate (wrong) use of the term Canaanite to show Jesus response to those who were to be wiped out!

Jesus turns everything upside down, including some portions of Scripture. And he turns our view of God upside down… God is under the law of love – other than it is not a law for God, for GOD IS LOVE. And Jesus revealed how far that love was to go – love one’s enemies, for while we were yet sinners God sent Jesus to die.

Whether we think we have the right person in the White House, #10, Moncloa, Kiev, Moscow etc. the biggest issue for us to get straight on is who God is. All the time we see God able to act in ways we are not ‘allowed’ to we will turn a blind eye to all kinds of atrocities, and fearfully acts often done in the name of our God. (One time I think I should write on the sarcastic element in Romans 13 in Paul when he writes about the authorities being appointed by God… Paul writing while Nero, the madman, is in charge!)

The quote at the beginning is the final piece in the Imperial descent, with the implicit or explicit claim to divine authority. The Emperors of Rome were the ‘saviours’, they proclaimed themselves as bringing peace – with the temple to Peace (Pax) built on the field dedicated to war (Mars). (Again the sarcasm in Paul about the sword I do not think would have been missed by his readers.) The final piece was always the divination of the Emperor.

By all means we have to vote according to what we think is best. We might currently be divided over Zelensky’s appeal for a European army – without it what will Russia annex next (and sadly there is talk of annexing in other quarters too)… and with such an army where do we go? Not easy decisions, but there is no salvation of the human race and creation that would ever come from a violent god (small ‘g’), and there certainly is no salvation coming without aligning at some level to the image of God.

God made humanity in his/her image and we have ever since been making God in our image – hence the appeal of those who look like the (our) image of God.

Jesus is the one lens through which we see God, and see the image of the divine in true form.

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And we are justified?

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by Martin Scott
Posted in Prophetic Perspectives

For the past few years I have been interested in what took place during the Roman war in the province of Palestine in 66-70AD/CE. It ended in horrendous tragedy with at times 500 captured Jews being crucified in a day by the walls of Jerusalem; with reported cannibalism inside the besieged city; with bodies of those who had died in the city being thrown over the walls into the valleys outside (including the valley of Gehenna). Inside over those years there was a battle to keep faith alive – faith that God would deliver the city, for after all they were a covenant people, and there right in the city was the Temple the place where the God of heaven dwelt with them. The prophets were essential to keep that faith alive. The might of Rome… no hope of survival, but God, but the prophets, but if only they keep the faith. And then in 68CE the Romans withdraw as Rome goes into a major crisis with civil war and the ‘year of the four emperors’.

Keep the faith. I told you so – God comes through.

Alas a temporary victory.

The danger is always we lose sight of the bigger narrative and this is clearly what took place in Jerusalem, for the bigger narrative centred on Jesus, and perhaps they lost the sight of the bigger picture of God’s love for the world.

Of course claiming that one has a bigger narrative is something that can only be done tentatively, for even those with incredible sight ‘see in part’. So hoping that what follows contains a considerable element of tentativity and is also read in that light let me suggest a few aspects that might be applicable for us in the West.

  • When we centre hope for change in any government we have lost sight of the pivotal chapters of Revelation, that a slain Lamb, and only a slain Lamb can open the scroll of human destiny. And it behoves us to ‘follow the Lamb wherever he goes’.
  • That path of the Lamb was one that withstood the powers of religion, economic oppression (the biblical prophets say that such oppression is bloodshed and the Scriptures say nothing can atone for bloodshed), and perverse political power. That still is the path.
  • We cannot ‘other’ those who change the nature of the population of a land – Scripture attributes a change to the failure to steward land. The prophets in Jerusalem knew who the enemy was – the Romans, and failed to see / acknowledge that the problem lay elsewhere – the very claim that ‘we have God’ being problematic in the extreme.
  • Jesus came in the spirit of Jeremiah with his denunciation of the city, because of what he found in the Temple (den of robbers). He disturbed the economic system, that could be justified as serving the sacrificial system, as he exposed a deeper motivation within it.
  • The Jeremiah prophets who call us to pray into the shalom of Babylon – this is not a time to pray into the shalom of our ‘Israel’. [‘Our’ Israel – as Israel is another Babylon, but we create Israels that suit us.]

What lies ahead in the coming few years? Trauma for sure. Trauma that will be heard in the cry of the land (nothing prophetic there as global temperatures rise and as planet and people are exploited for economic gain by the few). And beyond that, unless something changes, we will find that literal armed conflict will be present in the lands that have been privileged to enjoy peace – to be clear ‘war’.

Unless something changes… the body of Christ has to wake up that Christendom is over – and it has to be over if the Gospel is to make a difference in our world. That we lose the desire for something to happen that has the word ‘again’ in it. The future is the air we are to breathe, that future based on what has always been seen – a new heaven and a new earth where there is no more death, nor weeping. The Christian faith is much more than a philosophy or an ideology – it is air (or if you like Spirit) from another age – that blows through everything.

The future is challenging – leaving behind the supposed safety of what has been; relocating; experiencing ‘both growing together’ side by side. The past repeated is a downward spiral, the future could be the embrace till there is no other.

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Is there a humanity?

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by Martin Scott
Posted in Prophetic Perspectives

A few days ago I wrote around the subject of ‘is there a God?’ and of course an all-powerful God who could stop it and doesn’t has always been the big question that theologians and philosophers have sought to answer. I take a different approach, with God BEING love becoming the one qualifier to everything, and the real question is ‘does humanity exist?’, or if we made that phrase a little fuller, does humanity as a) defined by Genesis and b) exemplified and incarnated in Jesus exist?

I am a theist, I believe that humanity needs a regeneration (and that is much more than my hand went up and I prayed a prayer that someone made up for me and I was ‘declared’ born again!). Is there a new humanity?

In a dream last night I was present with a number of people I know who are on the more conservative end of the evangelical charismatic world. Their desire was to talk about the rights and wrongs of certain behaviours and where we need to draw the lines and what we need to do to ensure that we helped people be on the ‘right’ side of that line. I said by the time you have worked that out, the world we live in will have moved on… the challenge is always about a new humanity, a humanity in the image of Jesus, being transformed by the power of the Spirit.

AI – artificial intelligence… should have been around in my day when I was studying. Hand-written essays (could anyone even read them to grade them?). Imagine with a bit of AI help how smart I could be? In the dream I said the challenge is for a new humanity because within a very short period of time a new humanity is going to appear. I told them I read in the 1970s Os Guinness quoting someone about the atomic bomb – we can make it so we must make it. This is where we are at right now. I have never read anything on AI but a quick google search kicks up a very recent book ‘The Singularity is nearer’ predicting the merging of humanity with AI. I have no doubt within a few years we will have on planet earth the beginnings of a new humanity – not defined by Genesis nor the new humanity of Jesus, but defined by we can evolve so we must evolve.

Laying on one side the obvious advantages of a measure of AI (or any kind of ‘Intelligence’) to certain people who dominate the media there is a very deep challenge in and through all of this to those who claim to have been touched by the transcendent God of heaven. We always live in the context of ‘Babel / Babylon’ with the desire to make a mark for oneself, to raise a tower to heaven, to see, desire and consume – and the ‘singularity’ push is no different.

Perhaps God will in some way intervene (the story of Babel), perhaps there will be a catclymic parousia, perhaps, perhaps, but if not the call of the universe is still there – ‘is there a humanity?’

The existence of God is a big philosophical question. The existence of humanity is a question that needs responding to. Increased intelligence could help, but the level of help we need is so beyond intelligence. Life is never without a challenge and the move toward ‘singularity’ simply helps us focus on how we need to respond. In this context the next 15 or so years will be so important. By all means debate ‘is there a God’ but we have to understand the closeness of relationship between God and humanity – God is not a big human, for sure, but creation is looking for something from us.

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Time – the elusive element

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by Martin Scott
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Land – with her innate gift; place – what is on the land, either exploiting, suppressing, perverting or drawing forth the redemptive gifting; and people who recognise it is not about them but that they are agents for the freedom of the land – and in part being blind with no great knowledge of what they should do.

This brings me to the final element, that of time being aligned. Time has two functions… let me illustrate from sport… the goal is for our team to win the league, in 2024 our team was second bottom (OUCH), 2025 remarkably 2nd (EVER SO CLOSE), 2026 a big drop down to 12th position, but in 2027 we win the league. Question: when was the team in all those years closest to winning? There are two answers:

  • 2026 as they were only one year away (we can term this chronological / clock / calendar time).
  • 2025 as they were the closest in all those years to the top (we could coin a term here and call it ‘kairotic’ or opportune time).

Helpfully we have the two words in Scripture of chronos and kairos. Things happen when chronos does not simply trundle along one minute after another but there are interruptions (kairos) – moments / seasons when the kingdom is at hand and ‘the time has come’.

I have been pondering what elements from previous prophetic activity / protocols come with us into the next season and what elements are to be different. I am considering this as an era is unravelling. Great weight was placed on ‘knowledge’, ‘words of knowledge’, predictions of events in the past. I am not dismissing that but I sense a shift… ‘It will not rain’ said Elijah – impressive… ‘until’ – setting the time. ‘Sons of Isaacchar knew the times and the seasons‘ but did they predict what the season would consist of as in what events would take place?

This is the shift I see. If in the developing world I have been told that prophetic 101 is to ‘control the weather’ I am suggesting that it is now for us to align time so that chronos does not simply trundle on and on. It is to see and state the season and whether the events are rapid in succession and traumatic or over a period of time we might be ignorant about.

Alongside stating the season is recognising the signs of a season, and in prayer holding that in place so that the sign brings about what was being signed. Messianic figures always appear at kairotic moments – Jesus THE Messiah with his ‘the kingdom is at hand’ and false messiahs that he warned about at another kairotic (and time of judgement) time in the context of AD66-70. Those signs currently are around us. The necessity is for a holding in for the sign to produce something that is ultimately redemptive, even when there is clear judgement on what had previously held space.

I am hopeful that with the (previous) understandings of land, cities, redemptive gifts, that we can be those who do not allow time to run away but to bring it forward. That the clock that simply tells us what time it is gets unlocked so that there is true movement forward – or perhaps movement from what is to come breaking in on the present… Time alignment. We might not have predictions about the outcome – too often predictions are tied to our preferences. Time alignment is related to redemptive progress, and in most redemptive progress there is personal pain. ‘Will not rain until…’ was deeply inconvenient when his source of water dried up, nevertheless he held the space, with help from widows and creation. Help is available always – God’s packages are not wrapped in a way that we instantly recognise them.

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Time… or weather?

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by Martin Scott
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Time is my response.

When people work and act in harmony with the gifting of the land so that what is placed on it facilitates a redemptive direction there is a setting where God’s presence begins to dwell and people can find it easier to find their place in the divine scheme of things.

One last element though that I wish to explore, and I will put it up front here, is: the challenge is for believers to align time, for when situations arrive too soon or they arrive too late the result is the same – the fullness of what should happen does not come into reality… and the normal element that manifest to resist the opportune time (kairos) aligning with our time-frame (chronos) is false wisdom – often expressed in religious terms and quoting Scripture. I will try and explore this more fully in the next post, for my thinking is that 101 for the prophetic in this next season is that of ‘time’. I have come to that conclusion slowly over a few years and it is as a result of responding to what is understood by numerous prophetic people in the developing world as to what is 101 prophetic – that of controlling the weather.
Here are numerous stories to illustrate what is meant by that so that in the next post I can use them to suggest what might be the level of aligning time that we can expect.

In Brazil I worked some with ‘the rain man’. My first encounter was at 11:00pm when I had finished speaking (time for bed!!), he stepped to the podium, raised his hands in the air, and for the next 10 minutes stood like that, and instantly and continually for the next 10 minute it was not possible to hear anything other than rain fall on the metal roof! He took his hands down and the rain stopped. He was responsible for a church that was on the edge of the Amazon, a group that met outdoors. In all the years of meeting it could rain before and after, but never during the time they set out the chairs and met. I have other stories from that time. 101 control the weather!!

I have been in Africa in a tent in the mountains with an evangelist and a significant storm was headed that way, with the tent beginning to creak… the evangelist simply stood up and rebuked the winds and there was calm.

I was in Italy and was determined to walk from the main city a particular path of maybe 15 kilometres the next day. So I got a drive into the city, the heavens having already opened with major flooding, streets awash… encouraged to bring at least a rain jacket I said no – let’s see if I arrive home wet for if I do I can always return to prophetic school!! Not a drop on my clothes. Maybe the weather report might have explained it, but at least a great experience!

I do believe in the above stories that God intervened and that there are those who are particularly gifted in this area but have never been convinced that this is 101 prophetic, hence my journey as to what is… that of aligning time. This is now becoming increasingly important.

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People: God’s idea

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by Martin Scott
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People

What a smart ‘idea’ is written about, and written in a way that almost makes one imagine that God – in the counsel of the ‘gods”??? – considers pushing creation to a new level with the phrase ‘let us make humanity’. The power of myth captures theology in a way that scientific statements cannot and the imaginative story of a transcendent Being walking with humanity, and not simply in the cool of the evening but in and through the heat of despair, murder and idolatry unfolds in our holy writings.

People, with the heavens being God’s domain and the earth ‘given to humanity’ sets the scene for the journey to begin. What can be achieved is incredible hence the story of the origins of language so that whatever they imagine will not come to pass – something reversed at Pentecost, thus the Spirit and imagination are closely linked. Humanity inbreathed by the Spirit can respond to that early statement with ‘Let us…’

What can be. God saw and it was good… John saw a new heaven and a new earth (the renewal of all creation) and then he describes all that is good,no longer a couple starting an adventure but a company from all backgrounds that cannot be numbered; God present in fullness permanently; no tears of regret and pain… creation having come to a fullness, perhaps even with the potential of more to come with the description that the gates of the city will never be closed – room for more?

Because God released humanity as the agents to work with creation so much could / can happen… and so much has gone wrong. I don’t think the writers of Genesis saw where all this would lead but God’s commitment to humanity and the authority given to humanity is what produces the Incarnation – humanity still has to sort out the mess, so into first Century Israel appears the one who walks among them – the truly human one. First miracle? Water into wine. Barrels used for purification get transformed into barrels for joy.

Land and place come together to resist the future that could and should be… but with vision (which includes blindness with integrity for we all see in part, hence blind in part) people are uniquely able to pull in a future that resembles – even if like an impressionist painting, rather than a photograph – heaven’s realities.

We have some work ahead of us. I wonder if it begins with painting a picture of a new future and inviting people to change perspective (repentance) and come on board (ekklesia) to push and pull, and more importantly to love all fellow travellers. [Surely the heart of the ‘gospel’?]

I think the next couple of decades will be critical with potential end of world crises… or potential new adventures. I am calling this the great unravelling. We have well and truly ‘ravelled’ everything, but like a balll of string that is totally screwed up one has to start to pull one end and nothing moves… but eventually if one persists an end comes loose and in a quick period of time everything comes loose. Most of the loosing happens by accident, one just happens to pull the key part at the right time. Hence blind integrity is so important. To imagine that we know what to do would be fantasy indeed, but to groan with creation, holding on to hope might bring us a little into line with Romans 8.

People. God’s idea. And God’s dream is not a dashed dream. The adventure continues… Land, place, people… and time (a few thoughts to come on this).

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Presence

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by Martin Scott
Posted in Prophetic Perspectives

If you have been following this blog in recent months you might have noticed a small sub-current of thought surfacing now and then – it is that of ‘presence’ not of ‘power’. I am far from a developed position, but here goes for a little re-surfacing.

I have been very impacted and continue to be by the inbreaking of God with power, so the ‘healing revival’ of 1948-58 (with all its flaws) has been of interest, the prophetic movement(s) of more recent decades and the like have also been a shaping influence on me. I am very grateful for the many testimonies of healing I carry… power. And power is part of the Gospel story. I am reading in Hebrews at the moment:

[W]hile God added his testimony by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit, distributed according to his will.

Signs, wonders and miracles… ‘The works I do you will do…’ in John’s Gospel where ‘works’ seems to be used consistently of the miraculous. Globally there remains a gap and also therefore a wonderful expectation, and into the gap appears some amazing testimonies.

A recent connection of mine wrote me:

The charismatic movement has framed gifts/charisms/mighty works as primarily about displays of superior power which invite/demand allegiance.

Can we move beyond that… without the loss of the miraculous? This is part of the season we are in. I am also aware that the wheels are coming off some flag-ship movements, thus indicating that the foundations were inadequate, but as always we will have baby and bath water scenarios. What a time to be living in and I am asking a BIG question as to what foundations are required now for the next season.

Dreams have shaped my thinking and also a recent experience while taking a Zoom class into a prophetic school in Brazil. I was asked to speak about ‘false prophecy / false prophets’, and over years I have had so many experiences there of confronting that manifestation – and where able to break it there have been literally a thousand or more testimonies of physical healing. At the end of the Zoom session I was asked as to how we should respond to a situation that they had recently experienced of a ‘prophet’ coming through who would give Social Security numbers to the person they were prophesying over as a means of affirming that they were indeed speaking God’s word. The ‘messages’ given after the affirming knowledge were totally controlling and manipulative. I said I don’t care about the preceding release of knowledge (the Social Security numbers) the words have to be rejected.

Can God give Social Security numbers / phone numbers / names and addresses – for sure. Does he do that – I would say ‘yes’. But… yes there is a ‘but’. Carl Wills (I was on Zoom to him this morning) says and they wanted to blindfold Jesus and ask him to prophesy as to who hit him. That is an impressive show.

I like Mr. Elisha (first name or surname?). He had intimate knowledge of what was taking place, much to the annoyance of the king of Aram, who wanted to know who was betraying their secrets. He was told

No one, my lord king. It is Elisha, the prophet in Israel, who tells the king of Israel the words that you speak in your bedchamber (2 Kings 6:12).

The same Elisha was also honest enough to say he was clueless about the distress a Shunammite woman was under:

Let her alone, for she is in bitter distress; the Lord has hidden it from me and has not told me (2 Kings 4:27)

The gift of intelligent guessing would have looked more impressive than that! But the gift of the true prophetic is not about looking impressive. Social Security numbers sound way impressive.

Focus on (superior) power… be careful it can be very seductive. And in a seductive atmosphere seductions take place. Hence I am thinking presence as being the environment. On prophecy Paul says that the testimony should be, ‘God is really among you’. Present. God (in the body of Jesus) became present – ‘among / with us’. At the finale ‘God will dwell with them’ – presence. When present even shadows can have an effect as was discovered in Jerusalem as Peter walked past.

The platform has become the place where the presence is mediated – the worship leader ‘brings’ the presence of God, the prophet, the preacher… and so it goes on.

But the wind? Well…

The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.

You don’t know… hiddenness and visibility together. And ‘the wind’ is not an analogy for the Holy Spirit but for those ‘born again’. Platform giving way to the wind. [Perhaps that would straighten out the activity and hopes for evangelical movements who want to control politics.]

So a little resurfacing. There are ‘power’ words in Scripture… but I suspect that true non-manipulative power is to come through being truly, fully present. And to be fully present? That is the journey.

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An intense season

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by Martin Scott
Posted in Prophetic Perspectives

Yesterday I put out one of our ‘irregular newsletters’ to bring those interested more up to date with where we are at and what we are up to. Inevitably there were some perspectives in there that are personal viewpoints on the wider context, the wider context of both the ‘church’ and the world. Any such viewpoints are ‘in part’, never the whole picture.

It is always possible to say ‘it is a new day’ as the Lord makes all things new on a VERY regular basis, but it is also easy to assume that a new day will give us what we were longing for yesterday. Perhaps it is a new day, but I consider it might be better to look at the season that is here. Seasons can be broken down into smaller units, but it appears to me that there is a prolonged season here currently, one that probably spans 20 years, from 2020 to 2040. 2020, helpfully suggested that it would be a year of sight, and sight is not seen by all for Jesus said ‘let those who have eyes see’. We can proclaim sight and be accurate about that, but then fail to see it. We can have a mouth but not have eyes. (Now I am in danger of assuming I have sight,as Jesus advised the Pharisees that it might be better not to claim to have sight – otherwise ‘our guilt remains’…)

2020 was indeed a year of great sight… the pandemic changed so much and was globally visible.

Now the intensity is ramping up, with hierarchical leadership being chopped down. Many years ago I heard Tom Marshall say that when truth flows in one direction and is responded to with honour and respect flowing in the opposite direction we have a problem. The labelling of any challenging perspective as ‘fake news’ is the response we have seen… what is sown by the body is reaped beyond. There is a huge move toward authoritarian leadership in many so-called democratic scenarios… and after all Rome moved from a sort-of democratically republic to an Imperial context. Many antiChrists have come said one much wiser than I numerous centuries ago, those who set themselves as an authority to be a substitute for Christ (anti: in the sense of replacing) pave the way for what is set in opposition to (anti: in the sense of opposing). 1 John 2 neither affirms nor denies an antiChrist (‘you have heard that antiChrist is coming’) in the sense that popular eschatology wants to teach it, and I take the same position, that of agnostic… but I want to be alert to the trajectory. Unchecked we are on a trajectory of an antiChrist, whether global or personal to my situation.

The trajectory has to be arrested, hence I see 18 months of trauma with self-appointed headship and self-affirming tellers of truth experiencing great pressure and under pressure there are leaks and exposures.

The last two nights have not been great nights of sleep as I have wrestled with the sense of whole movements being shaken top to bottom. Not everything to be exposed will be accurate, nor will the attempt to cover everything be successful.

The far east will become an ever more present reality in the world, and the geography from where many re-alignments will take place. I have long held the view that Jesus dies in Jerusalem for no prophet could die outside of Jerusalem (Lk. 13:33) for religion in whatever form is opposed to the prophetic; Jesus’ death puts an end to that necessity, and launched Paul as one who had to go to the centre that flows from Jerusalem – to Rome. Religion to the powers that shape the oikoumene / the empire. I am grateful to those who focused on ‘rolling up the Roman road’ in the early 2000s and deeply incarnated in the (literal) walk to Rome arriving there on 21st December 2005 (thanks Steve Lowton and companions). However, in these past months I have been contemplating that Scripture covers those two geographies and proclaims that the gospel had been proclaimed throughout the whole oikoumene / world. But… the far east? Maybe we have both become accustomed to the powers that rule over the west, perhaps we have both accommodated them and resisted them… but the powers manifesting in the far east?

These next years will force us to consider the powers that have to be ‘exorcised’ there, and of course they are already beginning to confuse us as they have been busily eating the west, thus strengthening themselves through hiding behind what we consider we already know. As cyclical time (east) meets linear time (west) we can be in danger of being losing sight of the times and seasons but can also be provoked to gain sight of a longer horizon… the day gets longer post December 21.

If we allow the Lord of the harvest to do the sowing, and we resist the temptation to pull up what we think are weeds… we might just have a wonderful set of years, a ‘new’ season that goes beyond Scripture on the trajectory to harvest… beyond Scripture in the sense of catapulted forward from the last word in the book that records Paul’s presence and gospel was in Rome… akolutos – unhindered.

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